Interesting maps there. I'd like to see something similar for Europe if such a thing exists, although I can imagine the subsidies pyramid being pretty similar, if not the same. The meat and dairy lobbies have too many friends in high places me thinks.

Families from various countries, their food for a week and how much it cost. What stands out to me about the American family, is they're not really spending most of their food budget on food, but the preparing and processing thereof. If they had the Ecuadorians' dollar-to-food ratio, they'd have a whole farm.

PKMKII wrote:What stands out to me about the American family, is they're not really spending most of their food budget on food, but the preparing and processing thereof.

You've got a consumer-led economy, places like Chad and Ecuador are producer-led economies.

If people are buying ingredients and making their own food, it doesn't stimulate the economy as much as them buying ready-made or processed foods. Plus there is the opportunity cost of having someone spending several hours every day preparing food, when they could be either working or consuming (and stimulating the economy).

So the next time you (or I) spend three hours in the kitchen making a meal from scratch, remember this: you're buggering up the economy. Phone for a pizza instead.